Mercer unable to pull off second surprising upset

Posted: Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hours before the tipoff, hundreds of Mercer students were tailgating outside the University Center, munching on burgers, listening to music and still savoring the school's stunning upset of Southern Cal.

Then they piled inside, eager to see if the Bears could pull off another surprise before the first sellout crowd in the history of their 3,200-seat arena.

Alabama - and one player in particular - brought Mercer back to reality Tuesday night.

Richard Hendrix scored 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead the Crimson Tide to a 90-83 victory over the Bears, who couldn't duplicate their 96-81 stunner against then-No. 18 USC on Saturday.

The Bears (1-1) had never attracted a full house to their campus arena, which opened in January 2004, and they're used to going largely unnoticed even in their own city, about 90 miles south of Atlanta.

Last season, the Atlantic Sun team drew an average of just over 1,000 a game. Mercer's only two NCAA tournament appearances were one-and-done trips in 1981 and '85.

The win over the Trojans brought unprecedented excitement to the Baptist-affiliated private school. The Bears wanted to show they were for real, but they simply had no one to stop the 6-foot-8, 255-pound Hendrix.

"If I get the ball, I have to make something happen," Hendrix said. "That's not always with points. Tonight, it was just a thing where I was scoring. Other nights it might be passing, or it might be rebounding and blocking shots. I just have to bring the same intensity every night to this team."

No. 12 Michigan State 86, Chicago State 53: At East Lansing, Mich., Raymar Morgan had a career-high 25 points and 15 rebounds to help No. 12 Michigan State beat Chicago State in a first-round game of the CBE Classic.

All-American Drew Neitzel added 12 points for Michigan State.

David Holston scored 18 points and had four 3-pointers for Chicago State, which led 18-17 before the Spartans took control with a 28-8 surge to finish the half.

Michigan State will face Louisiana-Monroe, a 60-53 winner over Northern Michigan, on Wednesday.

Polynice hit 10 of 15 field goals, including 7 of 11 from 3-point range, and added seven rebounds and four assists.

Demetric Bennett led South Alabama with 28 points, including six 3-pointers. Domonic Tilford had 15 and DeAndre Coleman added 12 for the Jaguars.

Auburn 74, Kennesaw 62: At Auburn, Ala., Frank Tolbert had 12 points, including nine in the first half, to help lead Auburn to a win over Kennesaw State.

Tolbert's nine points in the first half helped the Tigers (1-1) secure a 33-24 lead going into the half. Auburn dominated most of the second half, leading by as many as 20 points with 6:02 remaining.

In a late surge Kennesaw State (0-2) chipped Auburn's lead down to 12 points with 1:59 left. But the deficit was too much for the Owls to overcome.

Tolbert was one of six Tigers to score in the double figures. He was joined with 12 points by Korvotney Barber and Rasheem Barrett. DeWayne Reed and Quantez Robertson had 11 points each, while Lucas Hargrove added 10.